Chloride

Chloride is one of the most prevalent negatively charged atoms found in water, commonly combining with sodium, calcium, and magnesium to form salts. Chlorides have a wide range of uses; they're used in the foods we eat, de-icing salts for roads in northern states, fertilizers for farms and backyard gardens, animal feeds, and chemical manufacturing.

How Does Chloride Get Into Drinking Water?

Chloride in surface and groundwater from both natural and anthropogenic sources, such as run-off containing road de-icing salts, the use of inorganic fertilizers, landfill leachates, septic 2 tank effluents, animal feeds, industrial effluents, irrigation drainage, and seawater intrusion in coastal areas.

Chloride levels in most waters range from 10 to 100 mg/l, and sea water contains over 30,000 mg/l of sodium chloride. Chloride levels may increase with water treatment involving chlorine or chloride. Normally the chloride concentration of well water exceeds that of sodium by approximately 50 percent due to the difference in their atomic weights.

Health Impact of Chloride

Chloride is an essential electrolyte that helps to maintain the body's pH level, transmit nerve impulses and regulate cellular fluids. A typical person has about 81.7g of chloride their body. When considering the health importance of sodium and chloride, EPA assumed that water users consume two liters of water per day, and found that 10 percent or less of a person’s daily sodium intake comes from drinking water. The rest is usually from food. Persons on a sodium-restricted diet should evaluate all sources of sodium when attempting to reduce overall sodium intake. It is often much easier, and less expensive, to make a dietary change than to excessively purify drinking water. EPA has recommended that sodium levels not exceed 20 mg/L for those persons on a physician prescribed “no salt diet.” This is the same level recommended by the American Heart Association. This is a very stringent level. For comparison purposes, regular milk has a sodium concentration of approximately 500 mg/L. The sodium levels of certain other major foods are listed below.

Currently Epic Water Filters has not tested for the reduction of Chloride as some consider it to be a component of key trace minerals that are beneficial to the body.